Rae had gone head-to-head in midfield battles against Ince earlier in his career, most notably in Tees-Wear derbies when the duo were at Sunderland and Middlesbrough respectively, but when Ince joined him at Molineux in 2002 that was where their friendship began.

“Paul and I are very similar characters and prior to meeting him at Wolves we didn’t have a lot of time for each other but when we became teammates it became apparent, we were very similar. And we bounced off each other in that respect,” he explained.

“When you go back to the disappointment when we lost at Nottingham Forest, it was tough. And we were more or less going to the well and finding the same fit players every week...it becomes difficult because the Championship is challenging, physically and mentally.

"We were so invested, totally absorbed in what had to be done. It's in my nature!"